According to The Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Applications Survey, the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose to 5.13 percent last week from 4.81 percent the week before. The rate increase resulted in a 7.7 percent drop in the Refinance Index and a 1.4 percent decrease in the Purchase Index. Michael Fratantoni, MBA's vice president of research and economics, said mortgage rates were up, as many incoming economic indicators continue to show stronger growth than had been anticipated. The four week moving average for total loan application volume is down just 0.9 percent. More here and here.
02/09/2011
